Let It Go

Let it go. No, we’re not going to sing that song. We are talking about all the ways solo PR pros can delegate to people and tools so we can grow our businesses and free up time in our schedules while still delivering for our clients.

 

Transcript

Michelle Kane (00:02):

Thank you for joining us for that Solo life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves, people like me, Michelle Kane, with VoiceMatters and my wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hi, Karen. Here we are, another day, another episode. How are you?

Karen Swim, APR (00:20):

I am good, thank you. I, you know, it's funny for listeners who will later see the video, I feel like I am took myself back to 1970 for some reason today, like I'm wearing a headset over my head today and have this purple thing on the back of my chair, because it's freezing in my office, . And so, yeah, I'm good.

Michelle Kane (00:43):

All good. It's all good.

Karen Swim, APR (00:44):

Karen Swim, hippie. Karen Swim, coming to you from 1972, .

Michelle Kane (00:50):

I'll send in my radio request later. Oh my gosh. Well, I'm excited about our topic today because it's something that really helps us through our day today, and the theme of the day is - let it go - and no, we don't mean just run away from your desk and never come back.

 

Karen Swim, APR

Are you sure?

 

Michelle Kane

Well, it has been that kind of week so far, but I'm going to grit my teeth and get through. It's about delegation. What can we delegate? Because how else can we grow our business? You know, we only have a finite amount of time and energy, and of course we solos have a whole lot of get up and go and, ooh, let's do all the things. So how do we marry those two ideas to achieve the most success? We're just going to touch on some points of things you can do.

Karen Swim, APR (01:49):

I feel like this topic comes up quite a bit, what are the practical ways that I can relieve some of my load and gain back time so that I have the opportunity to work on the business and the opportunity to do more strategic work for my clients? And so I'm looking forward to chatting about this today and offering up some, some practical tips, some things that you can think about.

Michelle Kane (02:20):

Yeah, yeah, exactly. I mean, one of those is certainly your content creation, right? You don't need to write every single piece of everything you do there. There is low hanging fruit that you can hand off, or even dare I say ChatGPT, if it's an event release, something so simple that you could do in your sleep. Well, pop those facts in, massage it up and, you know, let it go. Or, even work with others. I know my local school district has a program called Pathways 360, where they encourage you to take on a mentee. So that's a great way to get help as well. Look around you and see what opportunities there are to mentor someone and also get a little help for yourself too.

Karen Swim, APR (03:10):

I completely agree and realizing, we should have set this up top, but as you delegate things to other people, you will have to realize that there will be a period of time where you will need to train people on what you want. So it's really important to, for example, if you're going to outsource writing, I think content creation is a fabulous thing to outsource and outsourcing it in a way that you can truly optimize it. For example, if you, for your own agency, write a blog, or maybe you're doing blog posts for clients, that is something that you personally don't have to write. But oftentimes we want to take that content and we want to get the most out of it by repurposing it. So maybe you have a byline opportunity and you want to take that byline and you wiant to pitch it again by slightly tweaking it, outsource all of that at one time. If you're chopping it up into social media posts, that's something else that you could do all at once. Make sure that you clearly communicate needs in a written brief or some type of document that the writer has on hand. Provide examples and then build in a window of time so that you could step in and help to shape the content.

Michelle Kane (04:33):

That's so key. I think especially, it's not just giving them an a deadline, but because, and especially if this is someone new that you're working with, or if it's the first time that you're doing it, because let's face it we tend to be type A control freaks in this business. What? Me? Who? And so you want to make sure that it's going in the way that you want it to go. It has the right tone, it's hitting all the right points. So I agree. Set up that check-in time as well.

Karen Swim, APR (05:03):

Yeah. And here's the big game changer. AI really has been a game changer in being able to use it for content creation, but that does not mean that you cannot still outsource that as well to someone else. Maybe you have an assistant and it's a good opportunity to really harness AI. You will also do better if you start with some clear idea because you want to treat AI like an intern where you're giving it enough information in the prompts to deliver something that's actually meaningful. The more you use AI, the better that you get at getting better results because you're giving better input. And so you have to realize that AI is a computer. So in the same way that you a Google search and you don't want to say, “Hey, find me a Mediterranean restaurant.” Where? In the entire world or in your neighborhood? You want to give it specific information because the more specific that you are, the better the answers are going to come back. And so, same thing with AI, but again, it's something that you could have an intern do, provide the information, and then you can go in and you can refine your prompts and tell it how to talk to you, what not to include. All good tips. So again, and that takes something off of your plate and gives you back time.

Michelle Kane (06:38):

Exactly. I think it's a great way to do it. I would say another thing too is even if you struggle with keeping your schedule, you could try and get an assistant to help you there, and make it a real person. We've talked about that lately, no pen names with your assistants, but, get a gatekeeper in some ways if that's an issue for you or if you struggle with creating that time for deep thinking or deep project work, especially. And, I know it's hard. It's hard to say, “No.” You want to please everyone. I get asked for meetings, and if I see that it's more than two weeks out, I start to feel bad. And I know that's, even in the moment I catch myself with that, Michelle, that's not bad. That's a good thing. But at the same time, if you need some help there, I think that's another way that you can take that load off your mind and just get a little help.

Karen Swim, APR (07:44):

Yeah. It's interesting, you know, when we first chose this topic, we were really thinking along human lines. And it's interesting, things have changed so fast that so many of these things can actually be semi-delegated to AI. So for example, when we're thinking about the writing that can be semi-delegated to AI, it definitely can cut down your time. Research is another area that you can delegate to a human being or to AI. You can have AI do research for you. Again, yes, you will have to fact check some things, and you need to make sure that you're getting back accurate information. But the better that you get at using AI, the better the information does become and ChatGPT for me, I highly recommend it and it has gotten better. And now there's GPT4, which is going to be a completely different experience for you.

It's 20 bucks a month for the premium version, not a big amount of money, and the time savings is worth it. So research. You can even use ChatGPT to write plans. So I know that that's one of those areas where as PR pros, we typically do not want to delegate fully because it requires some strategic thinking. But you can shave some time off of putting that plan together, putting together the charts, putting together the timelines by inputting information into ChatGPT. So spending some time there and then saving time and, again, maybe this is step one that you can delegate to an assistant, to a junior employee or even to a contractor. And then you can take that information and now you have something to work with that's going to save you time and you've protected, you've protected your time to be able to do that higher value work.

Michelle Kane (09:47):

Yeah. And, and I think especially, I know this is often my experience and it's because it's a lot of strategic thinking, but let's face it, these are ideas, ideas that come from our minds, and that sounded dumb, but you know what I mean, , it takes your energy. And, it doesn't matter how many plans you've done, you still sometimes sit there and look at the page and go, okay, I know I've done this a zillion times, but I want to make sure this is specific as needed to the client, and let's make sure this is the best it can be. And if you can get a little help with that, there's no shame in that. That's working smarter, not harder, which is what we should all be striving to do.

Karen Swim, APR (10:34):

And here's a big one, I think for so many people. Use a virtual assistant to manage your communications in your calendar. So this can mean somebody that checks through your emails and eliminates all the garbage and gives you maybe a summary of things that need a response that they can actually respond to on your behalf. They can set up meetings, they can manage things for you. Again, it just takes you training them on how you like to schedule meetings. Are there days that you like to block off? Or you can do that yourself by using a share calendar? Are there certain emails that you don't care if you ever see and they can just, you know, either respond to them or trash them to keep your inbox clean so you can use an assistant for those things. And, and that again, preserves your bandwidth

Because you said the key thing, Michelle, it's not always about the physical amount of time. It's really about saving our brain power, our energy levels. It is, it can be draining to sift through a full inbox and those messages don't go away. They just sit there for me, personally, and I'm sure for a lot of other people that are completely OCD, that clutter zaps energy, because it does, it's digital clutter. And it just drives me bananas. So I try to keep a clean inbox. So use a VA, that's something else that you can delegate. If you're somebody that's not comfortable with having somebody manage your schedule, I see you, I am that person because I feel like, somebody's going to put something on my calendar and then the day is going to come and I'm not going to feel like doing it. It's just stupid . It's dumb. But that is me all day long. I admit that.

Michelle Kane (12:23):

Like we said, let it go. See, I'm the polar opposite with my email. I'm not really a hoarder, but I like to know that they're there with me. A 50,000 email inbox doesn't bother me at all. I know…

Karen Swim, APR (12:40):

That just gave me anxiety. ,

Michelle Kane (12:45):

I think I've inherited my grandmother's depression era mindset. I might need that someday. I don't know.

Karen Swim, APR (12:56):

Yeah. Yeah. And my mentality is, you know what? You can find anything on the Goog . I can find it again. I don't care.

Michelle Kane (13:07):

I just had to drop that in, ‘cause I'm like, oh, I'm good. How many am I up to today? You don't want to know.

Karen Swim, APR (13:11):

And full inbox does not give me joy. Just, I'm just saying .

Michelle Kane (13:18):

Oh my goodness. But, I think because we've mentioned it several times throughout this podcast episode already, it is that training time. Because I think, I know for me that's a hindrance to making this happen many times because I think, well, I can just do it myself. Yeah, okay. That one time. But if you spend that “do it myself” time, maybe the equivalent of one to three times think, how much more time is that still going to open up for you? So this is not a quick fix necessarily. This is not just a, “Hey, could you call that person back for me?” This is an investment in your business and its growth. And I didn't slow that down because I think our listeners are five year olds. I said it because I need to tell it to myself like I'm a five year old, you know?

Karen Swim, APR (14:06):

Absolutely. And when you are mentally prepared to spend a couple of extra hours training along the way, I want you to ask yourself, will that be worth it? If you could save yourself, let's say if you could save yourself 10 hours per week, what would that mean for your business and for your life? If you had 10 extra hours in your work week, that could mean spending more time on actually focusing on how to scale your business. It could mean more time on, you know, business development, actually meeting with prospective clients and nurturing people through the pipeline. It could mean 10 hours where you could actually read some of those books that would help you to, to either, you know, just for fun or those books that you've been meaning to read that have valuable information to help you to grow as a professional.

It could mean that you have 10 hours to start that physical fitness program. I mean, that's a lot of time and it is within our reach. There is an investment of both time and a little bit of money sometimes. But it pays off. And you don't miss it either. You don't miss the investment of time or of money when you get to the other side of it and realize, oh my gosh, I should have done this years ago. It's, you know, bookkeeping is another thing. Why are you doing your books? It's just such an arduous task that you can outsource to a professional who can do your monthly books, have you ready for tax time. All of that takes a lot of weight off of your shoulders. And we're all about relieving burdens. And so you have to stop looking at the pennies in front of you and thinking, you know, “Oh my God, I don't have two extra hours today to go over this stuff.” Or “I don't have three extra hours this week to look at this and oh my gosh, I have to spend how much to do this?” because it's going to save you on the other side of it. So, first of all is shifting your thinking and understanding that you're worth it and that this stuff really has value.

Michelle Kane (16:31):

Yeah. And that is key. Think of this as a mindset exercise because our mindset is everything. And it's interesting. I've been in a couple of meetings lately where just in the course of our discussions - and I just speak from the position of I'm a solo. I spend a lot of time by myself here in the office and you work with clients and stuff, but they’re clients, you're doing their work. But when you're in some other circles and not quite sure what my point is, but it just elevates what you do in your mind. Sometimes we can discount what we do just because it comes easy to us because Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever, you know, we're just doing our thing, and you don't sometimes feel the effects of what you're doing. So, it is important to have those experiences and you have to free up your time to get there. And experiencing those mindset check-ins, I guess I call them that because it's so important and, and valuable to you as a person and as a professional and realize, oh yeah, okay, this is, this does matter. And yeah. Okay. This is good.

Karen Swim, APR (17:51):

I'll say it this way. You know, one of the best things that you can do for your business is to really fully embrace that you are a business owner. That you're not just a worker bee. And so when I hear people say, “Oh, I just go in a Canva and do my visual content, or I just do this, I just go here and I do the,” you're doing a lot, but if you were the CEO of a Fortune 100 company, would you be popping into Canda and creating your own images or would you be delegating that to someone else? So you have to really stop yourself and think, just because I can doesn't mean I have to. And the more that you embrace that role that you are a business owner, and that does not mean that sometimes you're not doing some of the things.

It's great that we know that sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. There's the labor shortage. Sometimes you can't find people. You need to understand the parts of your business, but you're a business owner. And the more you act like it, the more that your customers treat you like that, the more that you grow up in how you price your services Yeah. And how you take control of your business and how you start to increase your confidence about what you're doing. But as long as you hold yourself down in that worker bee position, you don't realize that it's impacting other areas of your business. So I love Canva, but I have somebody else use Canva. I love all these tools, but I'm not doing all of those things because everything is not mission critical for me personally to do. And again, we PR types are such control freaks that we hate to like, you know, it's like you pride this out of my cold dead hands. We have to let go. And we have to understand that even with training, people are not going to do things exactly the way that you do it, but the way that you judge it isn't effective. Does it get the job done? Are my clients happy?

Michelle Kane (19:56):

Right. Right.

Karen Swim, APR (19:57):

Is it producing the outcome that's desired? If it is, let it go. They may not do things the same way as you do, I promise you they will not. It's okay because you didn't have to touch it. And so that's your goal is to find those things that, you know what? I didn't have to touch it. It happened, it worked. It's great. Let it go.

Michelle Kane (20:18):

Yeah. And all the more reason to have things like brand guidelines at the ready as you train the people, if they, they know the colorways and the fonts to use, and here are all the assets, it's less likely to go off the rails. So we can get our control in that.

Karen Swim, APR (20:35):

Yeah. We've talked about this before. One of the benefits of starting to delegate things in your business is that you also now start to have this documentation around your business, your process, your workflows. So in the event that you do need to take off for a period of time, and maybe you need to have another solo come in and cover for a time, maybe it's maternity leave, maybe it's paternity leave, maybe it's caregiving that is taking you away. Maybe it's a vacation. For any number of reasons, you may need to take a, a lesser role in your own business. You have documentation that makes it much easier to bring somebody alongside of you into the business. Or maybe at some point you just want to expand and you want to team up with another solo, or two or three or four or 10. You have processes. And so it makes it easier to slice and dice the work and to share with people how your business works, because you've already started this process.

Michelle Kane (21:33):

Yeah. Systems make the world go around. They're beautiful things.

Karen Swim, APR (21:38):

And by the way, that documentation is another thing that you can delegate .

Michelle Kane (21:48):

And you know, it's like anything, the more you do it, the easier it becomes. So we hope that this little pep talk to you and maybe to ourselves a little bit has been helpful. And if you do find this content valuable, please share it around with your friends and your colleagues on your own, all your socials. We would really appreciate that. And we do appreciate you giving us part of your busy day and listening to That Solo Life. And until next time, thank you for listening.